The Bruins have the No. 2 pick in Friday’s first round as the result of their trade of Phil Kessel to Toronto. Seguin, like Kessel, will probably have to be converted to wing to play in Boston, but the B’s have so far shown enough belief that Seguin can make the transition that they haven’t executed a deal to select highly-regarded winger Taylor Hall.

Tyler Seguin doesn’t seem to get much respect for a kid ranked at the top of his class.

NHL Central Scouting, comprised of about a dozen full-time scouts who have no interest in how high or low a prospect is drafted, spent the past season reaching the conclusion that Seguin, 18, a center with the Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth Whalers, was the top skater available in this year’s NHL Entry Draft.

Every other scouting organization, expert, or person with a semi-informed opinion seems to believe left wing Taylor Hall of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires is better. That theory will be tested Friday night, when the Edmonton Oilers make the first pick at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini hasn’t revealed whom he’ll select, but virtually every pundit, prognosticator and mock drafter believes it will be Hall.

If that’s how it plays out, the Bruins will choose Seguin, whom countless observers will consider less a match for Boston than Hall would be, a project … a consolation prize of sorts.

Nobody says Seguin doesn’t have all the makings of a star. Many even suggest the Oilers wouldn’t go wrong selecting Seguin instead of Hall. There’s a belief, however, that Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli should work out a deal with Tambellini, sending him players, draft picks, or both, as assurance that Hall will be available at No. 2.

So for Seguin to play and contribute in Boston next season – and that’s the expectation – a current center must be moved, either out of Boston or out of position, or Seguin must play on the wing.

There’s some irony here. The Bruins, after all, have the No. 2 because of a center who moved to wing – Phil Kessel, whom they traded last fall for Toronto’s first- and second-round choices in this draft, plus a second-rounder next year.

Like Kessel, Seguin possesses top-tier speed and offensive instincts, and could probably benefit from a little more bulk. (Seguin is 6-1, 172 pounds.) Unlike Kessel, Seguin’s character has never been an issue, he has a reputation as a player who can play in all three zones, and he has shown a willingness to adapt and cooperate.

And it’s a problem if Seguin is the Bruins’ choice?

Page 2 of 2 - Mike Vellucci, Seguin’s coach in Plymouth, used Seguin as a winger when the Whalers needed scoring during Seguin’s rookie season. After a slow start at age 16 (nine goals in his first four months of OHL competition), he scored eight goals in February and finished the season with 21.

“He (switched positions) with no problems,” Vellucci told NESN. “Most 16-year-old kids might give you a little feedback and not like making the transition, but he understood it. Any time you throw him a challenge, he always accepts it.”

The same can be said for Seguin’s 2009-2010 season. Without giving up much of his trademark play-making skills, Seguin concentrated more on converting his own shots. The result – 48 goals and 106 points over 63 games, good enough to tie for the OHL scoring lead.

“His first year … being a young guy, only 16 and playing with 18- and 19-year-olds, he was playing very unselfish hockey and probably passed up chances to make his teammates look better,” Vellucci said. “This year, he concentrated on putting the puck in the net a little bit more. He worked on being a goal-scorer, and put up 48 goals. It was great.”

Seguin hasn’t accomplished as much as Hall, the pure goal-scoring winger who has been MVP of consecutive Memorial Cup championships with Windsor and a member of Canada’s 2010 silver medal World Junior Championships team. (Seguin, invited to try out for the first time, was cut.)

“Taylor has done all these things,” Chiarelli said. “He’s won, and you can’t ignore that. But Tyler had a terrific year. His level of improvement is significant from one year to the next, and he’s still growing.”

The Bruins have scouted Hall and Seguin all year, and Chiarelli has said he’s left plenty of Whalers games convinced Seguin is the kid he wants. He has visited both at their homes, brought both to Boston. After all that, there has been no announcement of an Oilers-Bruins trade.

Add it all up, and it sounds like the B’s don’t think drafting Seguin at No. 2 amounts to playing second fiddle.